Combining Breath Figures with Mussel-Inspired Chemistry: An Easy Route to Finely Tunable Microporous Functional Surfaces

Microporous surfaces are widely explored for their potential in applications such as sensing, catalysis, and photonics. However, achieving well-defined and reproducible porous architectures often requires complex or highly optimized fabrication techniques. In this work, we present a straightforward, ultrafast and scalable method for producing functional microporous films by combining spin-coated breath figures of cellulose acetate butyrate with polydopamine-assisted metallization. By systematically investigating the parameters influencing the breath figure process, we demonstrate precise control over the porosity and three-dimensional structure of the resulting films. The incorporation of polydopamine enables the subsequent formation of metal nanoparticles, imparting plasmonic and catalytic functionalities to the surfaces. This versatile platform offers new opportunities for the development of multifunctional materials tailored for advanced sensing and environmental applications.